Mariners’ Luis Castillo is the key to making a break in tight-knit AL West originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Seattle Mariners are in a very tight AL West race, but each team is hovering either at, or below .500. At 18-20, they sit just behind the Texas Rangers by a single game for the lead in the division.
There have been plenty of players on the Mariners that have not really contributed much this season, hence the much worse record than a season ago. Cal Raleigh is amongst the top of that list, but it is actually a pitcher that needs to step up if this team is going to try and make it back to the postseason.
Luis Castillo, who Bradford Doolittle of ESPN named as being the one Mariner that needs to change, has not had a great start to the season. The 33-year-old right-hander has an 0-3 record in seven starts, with a bloated ERA of 6.29. It has been a stark difference from his 11-8 effort last season, and the Mariners are feeling it.
According to Baseball Savant, Castillo is hanging around the bottom of Major League Baseball in a few key stats. For instance, his xBA is a staggering .304 against him, which is in the bottom 6%, and the average exit velocity off one of his pitches is at 92.2 MPH, which is in the bottom 5%.
The Mariners are going to need one of the most relied upon pitchers. Castillo is a sour patch on a pretty steady rotation, with nearly all the other four pitchers have respectable numbers.
But, on every fifth-day, the Mariners need to worry about Castillo. That has to change quickly, or else the Mariners might be in the market for another back-end of rotation starter before June arrives.